It is less and less common, since both male and female fashion have been unifying, making unisex garments, but there was a time when men's clothing always had the buttons sewn on the right side and women's on the left side. .

There are several hypotheses about when and why this curious distinction began when putting the buttons on different sides.

On the one hand we find those who defend that it dates back to the fifteenth century in which many women of high society were helped to be dressed. To facilitate the task of the person who assisted her lady when fastening her buttons, the designers of the time decided to place them so that it seemed that they were in front of a mirror (on the left the button and on the right the buttonhole). ).

Although most sources approve this explanation as the most logical and documented, there are some historians who are not completely convinced because, at the same time, all the gentlemen also had camera assistants who helped them dress. their masters, so the buttons would also have had to be placed on the opposite side and not on the right where they have usually been.

But there are many other reasons that we can also find, some more logical than others. Here are a few examples:

On the one hand, we find those who indicate that the fact that women's blouses had buttons on the left side was because they used to carry their babies with the arm on that side and needed their right hand to unbutton themselves. the end of breastfeeding. This is one of those hypotheses that, although it has a certain logic, does not finish convincing almost any historian, because in the past there were few women who breastfed their own children (that is what nurses were for) and they did not they used to wear clothes with buttons, since these used to be put on elegant dresses.

It is also indicated that the buttons of the men's garments were on the right to be able to unbutton more easily when brandishing the sword.

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There are those who even point out that the custom was born to satisfy Napoleon Bonaparte, who liked to put his right hand inside the opening that remained between button and button of his jacket, and in order not to be imitated by others, he forced the buttons of the rest of the men's garments were placed on the other side. A somewhat absurd conjecture if we stop to think but, knowing the eccentricities of the French emperor, it would not be surprising.

And finally, another version indicates that the reason women wear their buttons on the other side than men was because they rode their horses tilted to the right and the buttons were placed on the opposite side to prevent the wind from blowing. sneak through the opening as they rode.

As you can see there are numerous conjectures about this origin. And which one do you like the most?

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Image source: Alfred Lopez

Tags: Button, buttons, buttons on the right, buttons on the left, button, buttons on the right, buttons on the left, shirt, right, left, button side, right side, left side, fashion, why do men's and women's clothes have buttons on different sides? unisex, buttonhole, buttonhole, women's clothing, men's clothing, unisex | Filed under: Historical Curiosities, The origin of..., Questions with answers